The Morphology of M17-UC1 - A Disk Candidate Surrounding a Hypercompact HII Region

Abstract

We investigate the morphology and the evolutionary stage of the hypercompact HII region M17-UC1 using observations at infrared wavelengths and NIR radiative transfer modeling. For the first time, this region is resolved into two emission areas separated by a dark lane reminiscent of an obscuring silhouette of a circumstellar disk. So far, the observational data as well as model calculations suggest that M17-UC1 is surrounded by a disk of cool dust. This direct direct detection of a circumstellar disk candidate around a hypercompact HII region is in agreement with the expectations of the disk accretion model for high-mass star formation.

4 pages, 3 figures, ApJL emulate style (accepted 19 Jan. 2007) to appear in 2007 ApJ Letters 656, No. 2

References in corpus (3)

• The Remarkable Mid-Infrared Jet of Massive Young Stellar Object G35.20-0.74
• The Complex Mid-Infrared Structure at the Heart of IRAS 20126+4104
• 2.3 micron CO emission and absorption from young high-mass stars in M17

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• Surveying the Giant HII Regions of the Milky Way with SOFIA: II. M17
• VLT near- to mid-IR imaging and spectroscopy of the M17 UC1-IRS5 region
• Young Stellar Populations in MYStIX Star Forming Regions: Candidate Protostars
• New Massive Contact Twin Binary in a Radio-quiet HII Region Associated with the M17 Complex
• W49N MCN-a: a disk accreting massive protostar embedded in an early-phase hot molecular core
• The population of compact radio sources in M 17